Grandia 2 Part 2 : The ReAwakening
by Riptos-Calavera
Summary: An Exceptionally old story of mine from before I discovered Paragraphing lol. Supposed to be a follow up to Grandia 2, follows on from where the game left off so of course, SPOILERS.
1. Default Chapter

Grandia 2.1 : The Re-Awakening  
  
Chapter 1  
  
It was one calm night when Ryudo came back to the continent of Silesia after spending the last year of his life training and perfecting his sword skills with Gatta. Right from landing at port in Cyrum he could tell that something was wrong as the townspeople were not nearly as cheery as he recalled leaving them one year prior. He could see the true look of fear in their faces, this didn't really phase him too much though as he was finally back and able to meet up with the whole troupe after so long. Ryudo wondered who he should go and see first, Roan seemed to be the obvious choice as he was right at the back of Cyrum and he could easily meet up with Tio when he was leaving anyway. With this in mind he headed through the bustling bazaar towards the castle. It was only at this point he realised that it would be a bit more tricky to get in than first thought considering that a royal was hardly going to leave the front door unguarded so to save time he thought about the secret passage that Roan had shown him before when he came to the kingdom. He sneakily slipped past the guard who was supposedly watching the boat , however the guard seemed to pre-occupied with the bazaar to be paying attention to it. It had been the first time in a while that Ryudo had felt truly alive since slaying Valmar one year ago, it felt nice to have the thrill of sneaking around again seeing as how monsters had became very scarce since Valmar had been defeated, as such Ryudo couldn't help but feel his skills had slipped since then but he tried not to let it bother him. As he stepped into the boat he noted that it was beginning to rain which was unusual for Cyrum as it always seemed so warm and pleasant here, all these small things were beginning to make Ryudo show a little concern about the town and the people in it. With this he pushed off and headed the boat round the back of the castle. As he suspected there was no guard at the back entrance as so few had ever entered via this entrance. Smiling he prised open the lid cover with the "Maken Valborg" , the sword which he received off his brother when he defeated him, apart from being a very strong sword , he kept it more as a keepsake to show the appropriate respect for his brother. Shaking images of his brother out of his head he slowly climbed down the ladder into the musty basement of the castle. Surveying his surroundings he noted the place hadn't changed at all , it was still dusty and looked as though it was still out of use. Picking a torch off the wall , he lit it and moved on in the piercing blackness. After about 10 minutes he had managed to reach the other side of the dungeon. There was a well lit clearing which signalled that he had made it to the end. It wasn't until he entered the light that he heard a strange clicking noise....a noise like....footsteps! Stunned Ryudo swung around and saw what had made the noise, a strange creature with strange sickle like claws and a large toothed jaw, all in all it must have been about 9 feet tall and barely was able to stand straight under the low ceiling. Ryudo had barely made these perceptions when the creature swung at him with its claw and swiped the torch out of his hand. This was like a reality check for Ryudo and he drew his brother's sword from his back. Ducking yet another swipe from it's menacing claws he drove the blade a good 2 feet into the creature's chest, apart from a light shriek the creature remained unharmed. A look of panic graced Ryudo's face and before he knew it the back of one of the claws drove him into a wall a good 15 feet away, it was at this point that he noticed the sword was still wedged in the creature and it was still advancing towards him at a steady pace. Remembering he still had the mana egg that Millenia had gave him he cast burn towards the creature even to slow it down. In no time his fireball was ready, with all his force he launched it towards the creature, which just as easily swatted it away. Ryudo hardly able to believe what he was seeing tried to devise a plan. After a moments hard thought he starting charging up a "Zap!" attack and prayed it would work. The creature was almost upon him when he let rip the attack. The creature let out a yelp and went rigid apart from the occasional twitch. Realising this as his chance he grabbed the sword from the creature's stomach and threw it into the air before calling out "Sky Dragon Slash" and slamming it blade first into the ground. The effect was instantaneous and the blinding flash of light caused the creature to disintegrate and vanish. Breathing a sigh of relief he spat at where the creature once stood and walked through the secret passage into the main hall of the castle. This place hadn't changed either apart from a few cutting scars graced the expensive looking walls. Looking confused he decided to hold off questioning it until he met Roan to find out just what was going on... 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
  
Roan was speaking to his lead advisor about the current situation in the Cyrum kingdom when he suddenly heard a shuffling noise behind him, turning round with his "Gladius" royal dagger in hand , he saw a man in very familiar clothing. It was only when he started to say "Hey Roan long time no see....your highness" that he recognised that Ryudo had finally returned to Silesia. Overcome with joy "Ryudo finally you came back" he exclaimed. "Yeah" replied Ryudo "From the looks of things it doesn't look like too happy an occasion, just what is going on?" Roan's smile faded and he started to speak "Monsters have suddenly appeared over the last few weeks, only yesterday we had to fight off some of them within the castle walls themselves.." "Yeah I noticed that when I was on my way inside, had a pretty damned close encounter with one in the basement dungeon...hate to say it but I think I was fairly lucky. Had it not been for Millenia's egg I may not be standing here right now". Roan's eyes widened a little and suddenly knew what must be done, slowly he looked back at Ryudo and said "I think it may be necessary to find everyone again". Ryudo smiled at this prospect until he noticed the seriousness in Roan's glare then replied "I guess this bug problem we are having here must be that bad huh?". Roan nodded in agreement. Ryudo walked towards the large glazed window at the back of the room and stared out of it at the rain beating down heavily onto the now soaked bazaar grounds, finding some small sparks of humour watching the people huddle into the many tents looking like drowned rats. "I think it would be best if we head out tomorrow, raining pretty heavy out. Besides if Tio is still here I'd imagine you can have her summoned to the castle in the morning when this storm clears up...we wouldn't want her to blow a fuse!" Roan frowned a little at this , clearly not used to the sarcastic wit of Ryudo anymore, he had been round the stiff nature of his guards and servants for too long, it was only then that he realised what fun he had had on the previous adventures with Ryudo, this changed his frown into a light smile. "I'll see to it tomorrow". "That's good" replied Ryudo "Now have you got anywhere I can grab a nap?". "Sure just follow Paulk to the guest room" requested Roan.  
That night , Ryudo was tossing and turning heavily in his sleep. Just as the last few nights before had been, he started dreaming of the Granasaber and the power that he used to wield in the past. Just like the rest though this one changed into a nightmare , the power that he had fought so hard for was being wielded by a very familiar figure in a cape and armour, the figure had long blue hair and a helmet with a massive horn on top. Just as this figure turned round he awoke startled and in a cold sweat. Breathing heavily Ryudo noticed that the sun was just starting to rise over the horizon behind the St.Heim mountain range. "Guess I should get up" muttered Ryudo. Crawling out of the comfortable bed, Ryudo clambered clumsily into his clothes, picked his sword up and slid it into the slot in his backpack. Ryudo , still weary eyed noticed with surprise that the young king was already up and politely eating breakfast at the huge table. Roan looked up and smiled signalling for Ryudo to sit down in one of the very plush dining chairs. No sooner had Ryudo sat down when a hot breakfast was placed down on his table by an amply charmed maid. Smiling, Ryudo started eating until Roan started to speak. "Sleep well" asked Roan. Ryudo swallowed his food before replying "Not really, I've had trouble sleeping these last few nights". A look of concern graced Roan's face. "Don't worry about it, I'm sure some sleeping pills will handle it" said Ryudo before the young king could voice his concerns.  
After breakfast Roan and Ryudo finally set off and left the castle grounds where the town lay. The town was notably quiet, especially for a usually bustling market town, no one was out, not even the fisherman who were usually tending to their boats before the sun brimmed over the horizon each morning. "Odd how quiet it is" said Ryudo. Roan didn't reply instead keeping his face in a non-descript expression. They stopped outside the medical centre near the gate to the Cyrum kingdom before Roan casually walked inside. Ryudo called out "Hey I was joking about those sleeping tablets kid" to Roan before he turned round and said "This is our first stop!". Ryudo raised an eyebrow before following him inside. Roan knocked on the door to the staff room and a young and pretty girl who looked around 21 answered the door. Ryudo knew who she was near instantly, it was Tio.... "so she became a nurse" thought Ryudo. Tio looked up and a huge beaming smile erupted from her as she expressed her delight at seeing Ryudo again. "It is good to see you again Ryudo" she exclaimed. "Been a while" replied Ryudo "Sorry I've been away so long". Tio's smile faltered a little "No Ryudo do not worry about it, I have been very happy over these past few months, except these last few weeks have been most troubling". Ryudo's expression changed as well , "Too much work?". Tio laughed but she replied "No , but there has been a large increase in the wounded I have had to treat. There have also been many deaths, for this I am sad". Roan butted in explaining "It's all because of these monster attacks recently". "That is correct" replied Tio, Ryudo merely crossed his arms listening to the explanation of the last few weeks of occurrences. As he did this Tio noticed that Ryudo was no longer the possessor of the Granasaber, "Ryudo where is the Granasaber, you should still be the possessor of it?"... Ryudo replied "Oh yeah about that, I sort of buried it after we all won that battle with Valmar one year ago, I didn't want to own that kind of power , I believed that we could all build a life for ourselves so I got rid of it myself" Tio's smile faltered completely before she said "It could be possible that some evil person in heart could be the new possessor of the Granasaber" 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3  
  
Millenia was just finishing off her class for the day in her quaint little school at Liligue City, saying goodbye to all of the little kids as they left. "Thank god I've offloaded those little brats for another day" sighed Millenia. Staring round her room she looked at the seats and laughed when she remembered that they used to be altar chairs in the Liligue church before she helped destroy Valmar one year before. She was just about to doze off when Skye flew in through the open window, flapping his wings hard to allow him to hover he spoke urgently and with purpose "Millenia someone has ambushed Mr Gadan and his associates down in the town square". Millenia eyes flickered open, "damn one step away from a nice bit of R&R" she thought however she sprung to life and ran to the big cabinet at the back of her classroom. Fumbling through her keys she finally opened the cabinet and there it was, the fabled "Black Angel Bow" that she defeated Valmar with. In no time she was ready, armed up with her bow and cunning she left the school without delay and rushed to the town square. "I'll fly ahead" beckoned Skye, Millenia nodded and continued running at a brisk pace, she didn't want to exhaust herself and break a nail did she. She slowed to a halt when she saw Skye hovering over Mr Gadan's corpse, there were repeated slice marks on the body, it was at that point that she noticed a figure in a cape standing on a clearing perhaps 100 metres away from the scene. Her eyes widened, she could swear that she recognised the figure and began to shake her head in disbelief and shock. "Ah I remember you, how dramatic, the girl with wings correct?" said the figure in a slightly cocky voice. Millenia could barely speak but managed to stammer "M-M-Melfice!?". "Absolutely correct my dear, now have you seen my brother anywhere, I would love to pay my...ahem....regards!" Millenia suddenly feeling extremely protective shouted "I'll never let you have Ryudo", "Is that a fact?" sniggered Melfice "Well if I have to extract the information the hard way then so be it", upon these words he drew the Granasaber from his back, which had now changed to a black colour and had a blue gem in the centre of the hilt. Millenia drew aim on her crossbow and fired straight at him, however Melfice easily swatted it away and even managed to split the bolt evenly down the middle. Millenia couldn't believe what she was seeing and before she knew it Melfice had sprinted at an extremely fast speed which her eyes could barely even gauge behind her and punched her down to the ground. "Tell me what I need to know" ordered Melfice. "Never! I'll never let you have Ryu-d-d-o..." Millenia managed to croak before losing consciousness. "Useless mortal , if I cant get the information that I want then I have no use for this town anymore". Melfice raised his Granasaber towards the heavens and a very dark beam shot out of it towards the sky, as this was going on , Skye ordered the townspeople to get Millenia out of here and to get out of the town as quick as possible. Just as Millenia was getting lifted up by the townspeople, a shell of darkness was forming around Melfice and was slowly growing in size and power. The townspeople managed to escape the town just as a huge dark explosion encompassed the entirety of Liligue, the blast never got beyond the city walls although the surrounding area was beginning to look like Mt. Garlan as dark purple patches started landing everywhere from the blast, A huge spike started to erupt from the ground barely 3 ft from where Millenia was lying unconscious. The townspeople looked back at where Liligue once stood and it was gone, all of it was gone, Melfice had vanished as well. "Everyone let's get to Agear town, we need shelter and food for now" preached Skye loudly so everyone could hear his demands. After this 2 townspeople picked up Millenia and walked in the direction of the baked plains and then Agear... 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4  
  
Ryudo , Tio and Roan had already travelled a fair way , they were most of the way across the Raul hills when yet another monster appeared. Ryudo drew his sword before Roan cut in front of him and told him to leave it to him, he shrugged his shoulders and said "be my guest kid". Roan stepped forward and the creature noticed this , suddenly taking large lunging steps towards him, no panic graced Roan's face as he drew his very valuable dagger from his side holster. Tio had her famed bladed rings ready and in hand should he have any difficulty. Ryudo suddenly noticing Tio's panicky expression told her to "Calm down , the kid's bigger than he looks", Tio however still had her eyes focused on the approaching creature which was almost like a lizard man with a large club in hand. All of a sudden Roan charged a "Stram" attack and fired it at the monster. The monster suddenly began to spasm quite wildly, on this note , Roan charged with a full head of steam and slammed his dagger all the way to the hilt into the creature's skull, it fell limp and no doubt died on impact. Roan put his foot on the head of the felled lizard and drew the short foot long blade of his Gladius from it's temple. Ryudo smiled warmly and said "You been practising your highness?". Roan having just came down from the adrenaline rush from the battle said that he had been taught in the art of battle strategy from his best advisors and warriors back in Cyrum. Ryudo then graced a look over at Tio to see that the troubled look had faded, clearly she had underestimated the young king again. Feeling a little agitated , Ryudo said to everyone " I don't care what you say I'm fighting the next one okay?" Roan managed a laugh when Ryudo added "If that's okay with his majesty that is". Tio gave that beaming smile that she gave when she saw Ryudo again originally, she felt just as much at peace here as she did when she was in the medical centre back in Cyrum. Finally on the horizon they were able to see St Heim , the former religious capital back in the time of impending darkness, although no one regarded it as that anymore. St Heim since the Granacliffs had been filled , had became a smaller market town and the largest library in Silesia. Anything Ryudo or the others wished to find out about the "heroic" exploits that they went through or even about the original battle of good and evil, the true version and the old 'doctored' one. Ryudo didn't even bother thinking about these things , all that it meant was there was an inn and a hot meal waiting for him there. However the place did spark some thoughts about his recent past , what had transpired here between him and Elena, even Millenia. He suddenly remembered what he could have had had he actually stayed behind after Valmar had been defeated. Roan's voice suddenly shaken him from his thoughts by saying just how hungry and tired he was becoming to which Ryudo replied "Don't worry should only be a couple more hours til we reach food and a sleep". Tio remained neutral about it , after all what use has an automata for food or sleep , these had been practises which she had been taught just to act more human, however deep inside her 'heart' she felt happy that rest was coming soon and managed a small smile. 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5  
  
It was a nice starlit evening in the small mountain town of Mirimu, Elena had spent many a good hour since she and her minstrel troupe had travelled over the cold and desolate Lumir forest , they always reminded her of what she was capable of , after all it was among those stars that she helped destroy the Devil of darkness so why shouldn't she be thankful every time she looked up at them? Over the last couple of days though , Elena had properly befriended the young Aira , who had completely recovered from her possession by the Eye of Valmar. She remembered back to when they first arrived in the village, where the townspeople had given her a hero's or heroine's if you're picky, welcome. Little Aira had then come up and gave her a wreath much to the jubilation of her, it had truly been a great experience for her to see that she had became the energetic little girl she had remembered. Her mind drifted as she gradually remembered other events from that time, she thought of the last time she had been here, it had been a happy time , Roan had even managed to find her and speak to her. The things he spoke about made her think of Ryudo again and how much she truly missed him. However she did remember that she tried to bottle her feelings for him up too , maybe it was just a show of inner strength at the time , but as the time passed, she realised she missed him more than ever. Sighing she stood up and walked into her tent at the town entrance so she could prepare for tonight's singing performance that she would have to give to the townspeople before they packed up the next morning. The next stop on their tour would be Liligue, she was looking forward to that , after all she had been wanting to meet Millenia again for quite a long time, after all she did save her life and never did thank her for it. It was only in the last couple of weeks she had realised that she hadn't shown her appreciation for it.  
Millenia awoke with Skye staring down on her , "you feeling okay?" he said. "Been better" she replied with, "What happened?" she asked. Skye shut his eyes and shook his head slowly, "Melfice seems to have been resurrected, Liligue is gone, all of it is gone". Millenia sprung up from the bed that she seemed to recognise "What!!?" she screamed before a tear slipped down her cheek. Skye re-assuringly said "don't worry we had the time to evacuate before Melfice destroyed everything". Millenia attempting to regain her composure, calmly asked "where are we now?" , "Agear town" Skye replied, Millenia smiled a little realising why this bed sit seemed so familiar. She almost had Ryudo here a little over a year ago but Roan had run off somewhere. She remembered having to free Ryudo so they could go find him, many a time she dreamt of what could have happened had those events not come to pass, however she came to the conclusion that Ryudo would still come back to her and it would just be a matter of time before she saw him again. With this thought in mind , she suddenly dozed back off to sleep, Melfice had hit her hard , she wasn't fully recovered yet. Skye could see that too and kept watch over her while Vyx kept watch over the town with a few swordsmen should Melfice show up round here looking for her. Skye knew it wouldn't be nearly enough , after all if Millenia , a possessor of a god's power couldn't get near him then what could even an army of mortal human soldiers do against him? However he thought it was only common practice that Vyx would want to volunteer his men to help protect her, after she helped save all of them a year ago. 


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6  
  
Ryudo, Roan and Tio passed through the gates just after night had fell, to their right was the quaint little inn which hadn't changed a bit, Ryudo thought or rather hoped that the food hadn't changed either considering it was some of the richest food he had ate on his entire previous journey. The embarrassing situation arose however, Ryudo hadn't brought any money with him since coming back from Garlan , he had gotten this far through friends and reputation alone. He could only pray that his reputation spread to this place as well. Without saying a word he walked through the door hoping to be recognised, unfortunately though , the old man that used to run this place had been changed with a middle aged man with greyish hair. "Damn!" Ryudo muttered to himself quietly catching Tio's attention. Upon hearing this Tio asked Ryudo "What is the matter Ryudo?" , Ryudo flushed a little and confessed that he had absolutely no money on him at all. Tio laughed at this , Roan on the other hand walked straight to the owner of the inn and put at least double what was required on the desk "We'll have your best rooms and a...damned good meal". Ryudo eyes widened in surprise or shock, he wasn't sure which but let out a smile saying inwardly "Damn the little kid's growing up!". The man looked at the money that had been placed before him and said "Right away sir , I'll be right on it". "Shall we get comfortable?" suggested Roan. Ryudo had clearly overlooked the convenience of being around royalty, it was apparent that money was going to be no problem whatsoever or wherever they went, "Damned straight!" Ryudo said out loud. Roan took a glance over at Ryudo then smiled.  
Millenia finally woke up, looking around obscurely at the room, which was dark except for a half-melted candle in the corner. Looking up she even noticed that Skye was asleep on his perch, she figured she should be thankful for his help in technically saving her life from being taken by Melfice along with Liligue. Putting it into her "to do" list, she got up , picked up her bow quietly and sneaked outside the room into the town square of Agear. The town itself had been near completely rebuilt and lit torches graced the main streets, she noted that a few guards were on patrol, she would have to evade them, after all she wasn't intent in making Skye or anyone else worry about her well being. She now had a new purpose , she had to warn Ryudo that Melfice was alive and for one reason or another , was hunting for him. The problem for her was that she wasn't at all sure where to start looking, the thoughts and possibilities of where Ryudo could be were jumping around inside Millenia's head like a swarm of grasshoppers. After much careful thought , she decided the best course of action was to head in the direction of Garlan, as this was Ryudo's home and it was a long way away, it seemed logical. It also meant that she could ask along the way if anyone has heard from him , after all in the direction of Cyrum and Mirimu, Ryudo had a very famous reputation as being the "saviour" of humanity and rightly so, however Elena and herself got barely any of the credit, not that she minded of course. Who needs popularity, all it does is bring unnecessary attention she thought to herself. The time for thought was over , it was time to act and sneak out of this place, sneaking through the numerous patches of shadow she managed to creep all the way to a damaged section of the city wall. Taking a glance back she said softly "sorry Skye, I wont jeopardise the lives of any more people..." With this she hopped over the wall onto the borders of the baked plains, which were an extremely hot and barren land through the daylight hours, cursing herself for not wearing any extra clothes over her standard work clothes, she shivered involuntarily as the land though hot through the day was pretty damned cold at night. She did realise however there was no turning back as trying to sneak back into the town was not an option, besides the wall from this side was too high to climb even if she wanted to, however even more unlikely is that she'd actually stroll back in the front gate, that would definitely draw too much attention she thought. On this note , she walked further into the depths of the plains towards where the once proud and bustling industrial town of Liligue once stood, she prayed that she wouldn't run into Melfice again as she strongly believed next time he would kill her. 


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7  
  
Elena awoke inside her comfortable tent after her evening performance for the townspeople of Mirimu, last night had went well , her foreman was extremely pleased with the turnout, nearly the entire town had shown up for the performance. Ready for breakfast, Elena stretched out and walked into the cold yet fresh mountain air. Taking a deep breath in instantly revitalised her and woke her up, upon this she walked to the inn which was just a stone's throw from where she had been sleeping. The door opened and the little bell which was hung over the door rang melodically. A cheery yet clearly tired Irina walked out from her room and smiled. "Ah Elena, your singing last night was exquisite, please wont you have some breakfast?". Elena beamed a smile and responded "Absolutely thanks, it is my pleasure to sing for people". Elena took her seat which had a giant oyster shell as its back, she always did notice that seashells adorned many of the buildings and furniture here. This was because many centuries ago, Mirimu was in the middle of the ocean and the seashells were remnants of this time, the villagers that founded the town noticed how solid these were and built many of their home's foundations with the largest of the shells. Irina walked to the kitchen and came back with a large loaf of fresh bread , and many different varieties of jam, butter and a couple of other things she hadn't heard of. "Thank you" said Elena and Irina nodded with gratitude before sitting back at her desk next to the door waiting for her next potential customers to walk in through the door. It didn't happen much but she always did her best to make them feel at home when they came in. Elena dug in and found the jam which was made from fresh strawberries to be of pristine sweetness, she ate quickly though as the other members of her troupe would probably be taking their equipment down, she didn't want to be slacking off in the eyes of her foreman. Standing up she expressed her gratitude to Irina before walking quickly out of the door. Lo and behold her fellow minstrels had already started taking the tent apart and loading it up onto their cart. Feeling quite guilty she ran up to them and apologised before starting to help pack the kit away Within an hour all the equipment and supplies were onboard their carts. They were just about to leave when Aira presented Elena with another wreath, this one even bigger and prettier than the last. "Oh my , thank you Aira" exclaimed Elena, Aira gave a huge ear to ear grin and said "come back soon and tell Roan I said 'hi'". Elena cocked an eyebrow but shook off the statement and responded "Don't you worry dear I will be back soon and -uh I'll tell Roan 'hi' for you ok?". Aira clapped her hands then ran back to her mother and waved Elena and her troupe off from the front door of her home. The foreman snapped the reins and the horses started to trundle on out of the front gate. "Next stop , Liligue!" said Elena with a gleaming smile on her face. 


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8  
  
Ryudo woke with a start, he had had that very same nightmare again with the caped figure, trouble was , he kept forgetting most of it when he woke up so he couldn't make a proper analysis of it, he quickly prepped his gear and felt quite proud that he was up and ready before Roan this time. Roan had been impressing him a lot lately, the young 14 year old was proving his worth as a man even in Ryudo's eyes which really said something as he was quite a harsh judge of character. This was proven when Ryudo ran into Roan for the first time in the Durham caves, his first impressions were that Roan was an immature brat, his surprise was unparalleled as he discovered that he was in the company of a young prince at the time who had valuable battle skills and was indeed a pleasure to be around in general. Roan awoke next and set about packing his things away, ready for the journey ahead of them. They would hopefully hit Mirimu today before it got too late, Roan especially didn't like the idea of being stuck outside on the cold mountains leading to Mirimu with numerous monsters being reported to be in the region. "Let's hurry" Roan said. Ryudo nodded in agreement, however it was at this point that both of them noticed that Tio wasn't with them anymore. They both looked around the room worriedly and came to the conclusion that she wasn't in the inn anymore. Ryudo popped a glance out of the window to notice Tio standing next to the corpse of a felled monster, it was clear that she hadn't lost any of her battle talent as she looked perfectly okay. However this didn't stop Ryudo and Roan rushing outside weapons drawn just in case more trouble had shown up in the thick of battle that Tio hadn't noticed. After a good couple more minutes the tension in the air seemed to fade and finally she turned round and started to speak to them saying "Sometimes it's an advantage to be an automata, my sensors detected a monster lurking about the main streets out here". "No Shit" cried Ryudo, Roan just smiled and added "looks like it wont be a problem if we don't make it to Mirimu tonight". Tio cocked her in head in confusion, not quite sure what to make of Roan's addition to the conversation, however she let it pass and merely said "Shall we move on?". Ryudo who had almost completely forgotten about where they were heading and their purpose, shook the cobwebs out of his head and rushed saying "C'mon lets go!"  
Millenia had crossed most of the baked plains, she was almost back at the decimated site of Liligue City, despite it being insanely warm as the sun had peaked over the nearby hills, she still felt cold. The thought of bumping into Melfice without any support seemed like a really bad idea and she was doing her absolute best to make sure that wouldn't happen as she wouldn't, couldn't let herself be killed until she saw Ryudo again. On the brim of the next hill she saw her next biggest fear, she noticed that a smaller sand creature had burst out of the sand about 20 metres in the distance. Hoping that her aim was still as precise as it used to be, she took aim with her crossbow and fired. The shot flew true and pierced straight through the creature's stomach taking out a hefty portion of innards. The creature let out a shrill note, almost sounding like a final death cry. Millenia wiped her brow as the combination of the rising heat and the adrenalin rush from finally having to fight something again had really managed to set the sweat and her pulse racing. However after a few seconds she noted that the ground beneath and around her had started to shake quite heavily. Behind her , another of the worm like creatures burst out of the sand. She quickly about faced and was about to fire when she noticed 4, 5 then 6 more of the creatures appear all around her. It was at this point that she remembered what Melfice had done to destroy Liligue, she had a very similar power , though nowhere near as dark, however it was her only option against so many foes. She spread her arms wide with her bow in her right hand at a perfect angle to the ground and a shell of darkness and electricity began to form around her body. The charge she was building was beginning to expand out from her. The creatures then started to squirm towards her , razor sharp teeth glinting in the baking sun. They were almost upon her when she decided that she had enough energy, she started to levitate a foot or say above the ground because of the abundance of energy she was throwing around her. On this action she curled her body into a ball and burst back to her original posture, this caused the energy which was bursting to escape to suddenly find a vent. The explosion was devastating, much stronger than she had expected originally, as the energy poured forth , the creatures attempted to turn and run away from their impending doom. The speed of the energy was increasing exponentially and it soon got the creatures at the back. The blast instantly vaporised all it touched almost like a small nuclear blast. Finally the blast subsided and it was over. Panting and struggling for breath, Millenia dropped to her knees hoping that would be the last of them, It was fairly clear that she wouldn't be able to do that again for a while , she had thrown everything she had into that attack and it shown. More creatures appeared on the horizon but it was clear they had witnessed their brethren being destroyed in a single blow, as such they kept their distance. Breathing a sigh of relief, Millenia regained her physical ability to move and continued towards the crater that was Liligue, hoping her luck would improve and she could find somewhere safe to regain her energy. 


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9  
  
The crisp morning air was a pretty good reflection as to what the Lumir forest looked like at this point in the morning, snow coated all the trees around and apart from the road, the entirety of the ground must have been covered by about 3ft of snow. Elena wrapped up in an extra scarf, despite claiming to love everything she wasn't that keen on Lumir, it was cold and barren and shown no sign of life at all. She was looking forward to getting on the steamer to Liligue, that was the fun part of this journey as there was always plenty to do on that short 1 hour journey. On the way out she had sang to the passengers on the boat and got a standing ovation for it. She felt even her gift for singing was pretty useless at the moment, after all it wasn't going to warm her up. The edge of the forest was drawing near and the steamer was sitting waiting for them in the makeshift port, "Finally!" she exclaimed. They were one step closer to their next destination.  
Ryudo had been having similar feelings, the St Heim mountains were getting pretty cold near the summit, cursing himself for not having packed some extra clothes. He couldn't really beat himself up over it, traversing mountains hadn't been something he had expected they would have to do, regardless of the circumstances. Tio was clearly coping fine and Roan had been smart enough to pack extra clothes. "Damn!" Ryudo said suddenly, Roan and Tio stopped to find out what was wrong, "What's wrong Ryudo" asked Roan. "Forgot to pack my thermal underwear that's all". Roan laughed and said "Well we should hopefully be off these mountains before nightfall so it shouldn't be too big a deal". Ryudo smiled a little at that prospect and continued the arduous climb to the summit. It was at this point that Tio pointed and said "Look!", and in plain view about 150 metres ahead of them was the pinnacle point of the St Heim mountains, from there you could see the mountain town of Mirimu and the Lumir forest beyond that, on the horizon was the huge river that was formerly the Granacliffs. Finally they scraggled their way to the top, and the view was incredible, the sun had peaked over the land ahead of them and this made the huge territory of snow that was the Lumir forest glint with a pure shine of white. They were close enough to Mirimu now to be able too see that some chimneys were spouting smoke, but nonetheless getting there would probably take a good portion of the remaining day. After all getting down a mountain normally proves to be just as hard as climbing it, unless of course you take the express route but to any of the trio that just wasn't an option. "Should only take a couple of hours, hopefully!" said Ryudo. "Lets go then" said Roan with true resolve in his voice. The 3 of them then started their equally taxing descent towards Mirimu.  
Millenia finally reached the edge of the baked plains, to her dismay she saw with her own eyes that Skye had not been lying to her. The once prosperous city of Liligue lay before her, almost victim to a nuclear strike to the untrained eye but there were exceptional circumstances lying all around her. The purple goop everywhere and the tall and black spikes which Skye claimed erupted from the ground as the blast was about to hit. Millenia found a small piece of ground in the shade and dozed off, still exhausted from her very own energy blast in the baked plains from before. Once she was asleep, the event which caused Liligue to vanish from the map replayed before her eyes... "She slowed to a halt when she saw Skye hovering over Mr Gadan's corpse, there were repeated slice marks on the body, it was at that point that she noticed a figure in a cape standing on a clearing perhaps 100 metres away from the scene. Her eyes widened, she could swear that she recognised the figure and began to shake her head in disbelief and shock. "Ah I remember you, how dramatic, the girl with wings correct?" said the figure in a slightly cocky voice. Millenia could barely speak but managed to stammer "M-M-Melfice!?". "Absolutely correct my dear, now have you seen my brother anywhere, I would love to pay my...ahem....regards!" Millenia suddenly feeling extremely protective shouted "I'll never let you have Ryudo", "Is that a fact?" sniggered Melfice "Well if I have to extract the information the hard way then so be it", upon these words he drew the Granasaber from his back, which had now changed to a black colour and had a blue gem in the centre of the hilt. Millenia drew aim on her crossbow and fired straight at him, however Melfice easily swatted it away and even managed to split the bolt evenly down the middle. Millenia couldn't believe what she was seeing and before she knew it Melfice had sprinted at an extremely fast speed which her eyes could barely even gauge behind her and punched her down to the ground. "Tell me what I need to know" ordered Melfice. "Never! I'll never let you have Ryu-d-d-o..." Millenia managed to croak before losing consciousness." She started to flinch in her sleep uncontrollably and woke startled and in a cold sweat, she was almost blinded as the sun glared straight into her eyes. "Dammit!" she was able to croak shielding her eyes. Feeling a bit more refreshed , she thought it would be a wise idea to hunt for some clues as to what had happened to this place or rather why. 


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10  
  
Elena looked absolutely flabbergasted, the steamer had came to rest on what had formerly been Liligue port, it couldn't really pass for a port now though, rubble was everywhere and more importantly, there was no one around at all. "What the.....what happened!?" Elena said out loud to no one in particular. Her foreman and fellow minstrels all looked around with the same calibre of disbelief and awe at the carnage which had clearly happened not too long ago. She looked around and noted that there were many 6ft tall spikes elevated out of the ground, even piercing buildings. She had seen it before and didn't like what she thought it meant. "The Horns of Valmar, they awoke inside Ryudo" Elena muttered inside herself. A tear came to her eye as she thought of Ryudo killing all the townspeople as his brother had done before him, she couldn't bear the thought at all. She bolstered herself, turning to the rest of her troupe and said strongly "Everyone, head back to Mirimu town, tell them what has happened", "What about you Elena?" her foreman enquired. "Don't worry I'll be fine" replied Elena as she pulled out her staff from the cart "Hopefully I can still use this" she thought inwardly. "Come back safe you hear?" pleaded her foreman. "Thank you for your kind words" preached Elena "Now I must go, farewell", with that Elena walked into what formerly used to be Liligue.  
Ryudo, Roan and Tio finally made it down the mountain just before nightfall , the sun was just beginning to fade over the landscape, they entered the quaint ocean orientated Mirimu village. Hardly anyone was out which was hardly surprising , this place was quiet at the best of times so sunset was hardly going to be their rush hour. "Might as well see if we can get some sleep, got the Lumir Forest to cross tomorrow" suggested Ryudo. Roan smiled a little sheepishly and said "Would you mind terribly if I went to see Sandra and Aira for a little bit, I can catch up with you guys later if you are just going to the inn". Ryudo grinned and cocked his eyebrow at him "Sure I guess, we'll see you later then" Roan laughed , waved then ran off to the back of Mirimu where Aira and Sandra lived. "Odd, Roan seemed a little secretive" said Tio, "Just embarrassment I guess, kid's a teenager, cant blame him, I think I was the same back then". Tio once again looked at Ryudo with a slightly confused expression on her face. Ryudo frowned and said "Never mind, come on lets get to the inn".  
Millenia had been looking for hours, so long that night had already fell on the remains of the city, she looked for ages but still found the same signs , purple splots of goo and spikes everywhere. All the signs pointed to the 'Horns of Valmar' being the sole problem. What had been confusing her is that she had sealed the horns away inside Ryudo's soul, how come they were causing problems now? Over a year had passed since then , why now, she just couldn't think and it was hurting her brain trying to think about it. Then suddenly it hit her, the Granasaber may be the reason , she couldn't help but notice it, sure it looked different , but it was hardly a replica, the detail on the sword is too intricate for mortal crafters to forge. It could be possible that the horns had moved from Ryudo to the blade in the time that he possessed it. After all the last victim of the horns had been Melfice so his essence would have been transferred to the blade. So basically the villain here was the Granasaber, not really Melfice, it all made sense to her now. Millenia felt a sense of inner pride at figuring the riddle out , after all she had the bruises and the remnants of a concussion to prove it. Which is why when she saw yet another familiar figure a little aways from her silhouetted by the moon, she began to burst with joy. She had found someone she knew, very very well, Elena and Millenia had re-united. 


End file.
